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Bert
& Lori: The Autobiography of a Cross-Dresser - Here
is the intimate autobiography of a heterosexual male
crossdresser - a man who wears women's clothes
occasionally for sexual pleasure. Though author
Robert J. ("Bert") Rowe has disguised his
identity, Bert & Lori is the true story of a
successful and happily married college professor who
leads an alternative life at home. This unapologetic,
self-styled fetishist and his femme alter ego,
"Lori", reveal how his interest in female
clothing began in childhood and how it developed as
he grew older. He recounts his attempt to conceal his
behavior from friends and family, and the guilt and
shame he was made to suffer for what he felt to be an
irresistible desire. Rowe describes how his love for
female clothing affected his relations with others
and partly led to the collapse of his first marriage.
Now, however, with a loving and understanding second
wife, he can explore a personal interest that has
turned into a private lifestyle. Bert & Lori is
more than a straight-forward autobiography. It is a
well-researched study of the phenomenon of
crossdressing. Meticulously endnoted and fully
documented, it describes the origins and purposes of
transvestism in religious ritual and discusses
crossdressing in novels, films, and the sociological
and psychological literature. It also includes an
appendix devoted to transvestite fantasy fiction. One
of the unique features of this book is the author's
contention, based on his own awareness, that
crossdressing can be a therapeutic, cathartic, and
even self-transcending experience. Another is the
postscript by the author's wife, Jill, whose candid
reflections are the only systematic discussion of the
life and experiences of a cross-dresser's wife
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